subject: How does a car's mileage affect the general condition of a used car? [print this page] The odometer reading, more popularly called the car's mileage, is the primary indicator of a car's overall condition. As soon as a car gets out of the assembly line, the mileage is always zero. However, as the car is used, each mile that the car runs is added to the what the odometer displays.
High versus Low
A car with a low mileage usually indicates that it is still young and will still offer many more years of service. When we say low, we typically refer to a mileage of less than 150,000 km's, especially those with less than 100,000. Any used car buyer should typically stay away from cars with a mileage that is greater than 200,000km's, as this implies that a car's engine has already experienced massive wear and tear.
If a car already has high mileage, it is almost certain that many of its parts are already corroded as the continuous use of the car exposes parts to friction. Friction in well maintained cars may be relatively miniscule, but they can pile up over the years. A heavily corroded engine is an engine that will not last long.
Effect on Price
A used car's selling price is highly dependent on its mileage. The higher the mileage is, the lower the car's price becomes. Basically, mileage denotes the amount of value depreciation in a car. Thus, when deciding whether a used car is priced right, check the mileage first.
A used car that is sold at a price that does not correlate with its mileage pops out in the catalogs sometimes. These cars are sometimes sold in this manner because the previous owner is experiencing severe financial stress, so that speedy asset liquidation was needed. However, these cases are quite rare, so that an uncharacteristically low-priced used car may have some problems that the previous owner wishes to mask.
The Fine Print
A lot of potential buyers who are still new to world of used cars often get overexcited as soon as they see a low-priced car on the catalogs. This happens a lot especially to those ones that have an immaculately low mileage. However, low mileage does not necessarily mean that a car is in good condition.
Based on random inspections conducted by the Automobile Protection Association of Canada (www.apa.ca), some cars encounter accidents soon after they hit the road. These cars are often sold by the owners at a low price so that they can get rid of it quickly. Sadly, many of these lemon sellers do not voluntarily notify the buyer of such an incident until it's too late.
Odometer Rollbacks
There are some unscrupulous people who roll back car odometers so that they will show a mileage that is lower than what it really is. While this is illegal many auto experts argue that illegally tampering with the odometer is unbelievably easy to do for the skilled person. This becomes a problem because odometers are not just there to help set a price tag on resold cars. More than that, mileage indicates the points at which essential maintenance procedures must be performed.
One can check for possible odometer rollbacks in several ways. For starters, if the mileage is less than 25,000 miles, then the stock tires the original car tires should still be there. You can also check the rubber on the pedals and see if their condition is consistent with the mileage on the odometer. To be totally certain, compare the mileage to the car's maintenance and inspection records see if the numbers match.
In short, mileage tells a lot about the car, and it may be the most important number on any used car.
How does a car's mileage affect the general condition of a used car?
